Currency Trading Information

A Fools Game


I received an email this week with a question (below) which caused me to think about the wisdom of pursuing trading as a career. Regardless of your trading time span, the skills and concerns of active short-term trading are relevant to all market particpipants.

Question: "There are a lot of people who say that day trading is for "fools" and that it is very difficult to make a living from Day Trading. What are your opinions?"

Trading is like most business: it requires commitment and perseverance. It is never easy to make money, but people who have mastered a skill make it appear easy. The really successful pit traders that I have known made trading look very easy, tantalisingly easy; but they all had many years of experience behind them. For every successful trader there has probably been a few hundred who have tried and failed.

I think people fail at any business if they approach it without an appreciation and understanding of what is required for success. The majority of traders fail because they have no such appreciation and they have unrealistic expectations of themselves. Any trader who starts with the expectation of becoming an instant success is setting himself up for failure. No one would decide to become a golf pro and assume that they could just pick up a bag of clubs and start winning tournaments. Yet novice traders do this all the time.

Just to start with the understanding that trading is a skill that is developed over time, through experience, puts a novice trader way ahead of the competition.

There are 2 core skills in trading, first the ability to anticipate the market (read the market) and second, having the discipline to execute your plan. To learn to read the market you may as well use a trading simulator and only start to trade when you have demonstrated to yourself that you can anticipate the market. Discipline, though, has to be developed and tested in the real world. Discipline is really the crux of the matter and it is here that most traders fall down. Their failure is mainly due to the fact that they are not really aware of its importance. Just starting out as a trader with the intention of developing your discipline puts you way ahead of the average trader. If you can trade with discipline (i.e. stick to your own rules and limits) you are 95% there!

So I would say that for the average aspiring trader, trading is a fool's game; but for those of us who approach the business as a business, with a clear understanding of the unique challenges that trading offers, it is a rewarding and fulfilling career.

Malcolm Robinson
LIFFE Pit Trader & Electronic Trader
InstinctiveTrader.com


MORE RESOURCES:

Top Currency Trading Ideas for the Week of June 30, 2008
Daily FX, NY - Jun 30, 2008
Expect a dollar rally to begin the week. This opportunity should be used to establish / add to long standing USD bearish positions. ...


My Top Seven Currency-Trading Tricks
Sovereign Society, FL - Jun 25, 2008
If you're a stock trader or an avid financial news junkie, then you already have an edge over other beginning currency traders. ...


Range-Based Currency Trading Signals Offer Attractive Setups in ...
Daily FX, NY - Jun 23, 2008
Market volatility edged lower through the past week of trade, suggesting that we may continue to see Rangebound market conditions through the near term. ...


Top 10 Currency Trading Tips From Deutsche Bank
Seeking Alpha, NY - Jun 15, 2008
In currency trading, as in any form of active investment, it is important to understand how you arrive at your investment decisions. ...
Strategies for Currency Investors Seeking Alpha
all 2 news articles


Top Currency Trading Ideas for the Week of June 16, 2008
Daily FX, NY - Jun 16, 2008
The EURUSD and GBPUSD appear to have finally bottomed for at least a few weeks. Near term, the pairs should advance slightly more before undergoing very ...


How to Trade DailyFX+ Currency Trading Signals in the Week Ahead
Daily FX, NY - Jun 9, 2008
... entering a period with larger currency price movements, forcing us to make fairly substantial shifts in our outlook for our currency trading strategies. ...


Boston Globe

Crude Crosses $146-A-Barrel Over Rising Demand
AHN - Jul 3, 2008
In currency trading, the yen changed hands at 106.07 yen per US dollar in Asia. In late New York on late Wednesday, the Japanese currency was at 106.115 yen ...
Oil Prices Jump Over $143 Over Weak Dollar AHN
all 2,177 news articles


Top Currency Trading Ideas for the Week of June 9, 2008
Daily FX, NY - Jun 9, 2008
The USD will likely head to yearly lows against a number of currencies (except for the CAD) in the coming weeks and months. After the large moves last week, ...


India rupee lifted by stocks; wary of oil,inflation
Reuters India, India - 16 hours ago
... otherwise the general activity in the market was lower as it is a US holiday," said V. Rajagopal, head of currency trading at Kotak Mahindra Bank. ...


US Jobs: Not Bad Is Good Enough
Forbes, NY - Jul 3, 2008
... Frank O'Connor told Forbes.com he thought the ECB rate cut had already been built into currency trading, a perspective that was borne out Thursday morning.

Currency-Trading - Google News

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